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MSc Accounting and Finance

Start date
September
Duration
1 year full-time
Course Type
Postgraduate, Taught
Fees
For 2024-2025
£17,640 (UK)
£31,779 (International)
Attractive scholarships are available

Invest in a global career and reshape the future with our MSc Accounting and Finance degree.

The world of accounting and finance is fluid and ever-changing, with innovations and practice constantly evolving to deal with the major challenges the world is facing, locally and globally. To thrive in this industry, strong knowledge, intellectual imagination, integrity and up-to-date methods are essential. Our programme is designed to strengthen your existing knowledge, develop your skillset in accounting and finance for a sustainable business future, and prepare you for a successful global career.

Why MSc Accounting and Finance at Birmingham?

  • Accounting and Finance graduates are in high demand from a wide range of top employers for their specialist skills. Our ever-growing relationship with key employers in the sector will provide you with the opportunity to meet and network with leading global organisations.
  • Our modules cover topics including accounting theory, financial management, and professional integrity, and give you the opportunity to study topics such as alternative finance, social and environmental accounting and international taxation. You will gain the knowledge needed for a career as a responsible practitioner at the forefront of emerging trends in accounting and finance.
  • Get ready to re-shape the future of business with a sustainable global outlook. Our Accounting and Finance course has been developed by leading researchers in the field, with a focus on sustainable and responsible business practices.
  • You have the opportunity to take part in the award-winning Future Leaders Certificate. This extra-curricular programme gives you the chance to work on an exciting virtual live project set by a multi-national company. The Future Leaders Certificate enables you to better understand the impact technology is having on the business world and the implications for your own career.

Who is this course for?

This course has been especially designed for students with a good first degree in accounting and finance who wish to further specialise in the area and get ready as a professional to meet new challenges in an interconnected global world, with complex but intellectually stimulating business problems to be solved. 

Discover our unique scholarship offers

Students walking on University campusAt Birmingham Business School we offer a wide variety of scholarships for our new MSc students in 2024.

These awards are available to both UK and international applicants and range in value from partial to full tuition fee support.

Find out more about our scholarship offers

Modules

The MSc Accounting and Finance offers you the chance to study in traditional areas such as business taxation and accounting theory, but you can also choose from a variety of new areas, including alternative finance options, social and environmental accounting and data analytics. This course prepares you not only to be a well-qualified and confident finance practitioner, but ensures you have the knowledge you need for a career at the forefront of the emerging trends in accounting and finance. 

All modules listed below are worth 20 credits, with the exception of your Dissertation, which is worth 60 credits. Unless indicated otherwise the modules listed for this programme are for students starting in 2024.

Core modules

The following modules must be taken:

Optional modules

Choose three modules from the following:


Please note: The modules listed on the website for this programme are regularly reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods. On rare occasions, we may need to make unexpected changes to compulsory modules; in this event we will contact offer holders as soon as possible to inform or consult them as appropriate.

Fees

Fees 2024 - 2025

  • £17,640 (UK)
  • £31,779 (International)

Please note that you will be required to pay a £50 non-refundable application fee for all of the above courses.

  • For further information on programme fees and information please visit our Fees and Financing page.

Scholarships 

  • For information on scholarships you may be eligible to apply for, please use our PG Funding Database.
  • Business School Scholarships may be available, find out more about our scholarships 

Additional Course Costs

  • In addition to the Tuition Fees you will need to consider accommodation, living expenses and daily costs. You can find financial advice and support on our Finance pages, or use the below links to find further information.
  • For an estimate of living costs for a postgraduate student at the University of Birmingham, see our Living Costs pages.
  • For information on our accommodation and services, including the support we offer to students wanting to rent privately, please visit the Accommodation pages.

Questions about funding? Use our Student Help knowledge base to find the answer.

How To Apply

7 May 2024 is the application deadline for international students applying through the student route who wish to study in the United Kingdom. We are not able to consider applications for 2024 made after this date. The deadline for Home students is 30 August 2024.

How to apply

To apply for a postgraduate taught programme, you will need to submit your application and supporting documents online. We have put together some helpful information on the taught programme application process and supporting documents on our how to apply page. Please read this information carefully before completing your application.

Apply now

Our Standard Requirements

In order to be considered, applicants will have or should be expecting to achieve an Honours degree (2:1 or higher) or postgraduate diploma from a UK university (or overseas equivalent) in Accounting or a closely related subject.

Applicants must have achieved a pass mark at undergraduate level in Financial Accounting or Financial Reporting, AND Finance or Financial Management modules at an intermediate or advanced level. Additionally, applicants must have also achieved a pass mark at undergraduate level in two additional Accounting and Finance modules.

If the Honours degree is not in Accounting or a closely related subject but an applicant has obtained the required modules listed above, we can consider the application and will assess the academic transcript to ensure that the requirements have been met.

Applicants who demonstrate being able to exceed the minimum entry requirements will be given preference.

Find out more about entry requirements

International Requirements



International Students

Standard English language requirements apply (IELTS 6.5 with no less than 6.0 in any band).


  • IELTS 6.5 with no less that 6.0 in any band
  • TOEFL: 88 overall with no less than 21 in Reading, 20 in Listening, 22 in Speaking and 21 in Writing
  • Pearson Test of English (PTE) including online: PTE Academic 67 with no less than 64 in all four skills
  • Cambridge English (exams taken from 2015): Advanced – minimum overall score of 176, with no less than 169 in any component

If you are currently studying at a Chinese university, please view our specific entry requirements including our list of acceptable universities for further study at Birmingham.

English Presessional Programmes 

If you’re looking to improve your knowledge of spoken and written English in preparation for studying at Birmingham, our pre-sessional English courses are for you. If you have a conditional offer, you can take one of these courses as an alternative to retaking IELTS or other similar qualifications. Find out more 

A high-class learning environment

Students outside the Alan Walters BuildingAs a postgraduate student, you will have access to our award-winning £10 million postgraduate teaching space, the Alan Walters Building. This will provide you with access to facilities of the highest quality, including a state-of-the-art lecture theatre, dedicated computer clusters and seminar rooms as well as communal areas for studying and group work, which look out over the University's ambitious Green Heart development, which was completed in 2019.

Graduates will leave Birmingham perfectly placed to take up key accounting and financial positions or managerial and consultancy roles in the private and the public sector. Fantastic career opportunities are available at leading accountancy firms, financial institutions and multinational corporations. This course is also beneficial to entrepreneurs that want to have a solid knowledge of finance and its applications.

Our proximity to London, the global financial capital, and ever-growing relationship with key employers in the financial sector, will provide you with the opportunity to meet and network with leading global organisations.

Interested students can also progress to further postgraduate research study leading to scholarly careers.

Top jobs in accounting and finance include:

  • Corporate Tax Associate
  • Audit Graduate Trainee
  • Transfer Pricing Manager
  • Internal Auditor
  • Accounting Consultant
  • Senior Analyst Risk Advisory
  • ACA Trainee Accountant
  • Finance Graduate Trainee
  • Credit Risk Process Specialist
  • Tax Specialist
  • Commercial Finance Analyst
  • Forensic Accountant

Excellent career prospects

Our students have gone on to work in a wide range of industries, in organisations such as Deloitte/EY/KPMG/PwC, NHS, BDO, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Mazars, Wellers, RSM, Grant Thornton, R&F Properties, Mondelez and a whole host of smaller companies and public sector organisations.

We pride ourselves on our graduates’ high levels of employability. We will help you to plan, manage and achieve your career goals, giving you the competitive edge when it is time to start job hunting.

Many employers visit the Business School to run seminars for our students. In fact, companies such as IBM, HSBC, and Deloitte are just a few of the organisations who see these sessions as an opportunity to look for suitable candidates for internship programmes and graduate training schemes.

BBS Careers and Careers Network

As a Birmingham Business School student, you will benefit from two award-winning Careers teams.  

Careers Network is the University of Birmingham careers and employability team offering: career fairs, employer events with top firms across the UK, start-up and entrepreneurial activities, and support. Internships and bursaries are also available exclusively to University of Birmingham students.   

BBS Careers is a dedicated service for Birmingham Business School students. The team provides guidance, support, and work experience opportunities, tailored to business school students, to help you succeed during and after university. We offer workshops, alumni and employer events, and 1-to-1 consultations. These will help you to develop your skills and learn how to submit high-quality internship and graduate applications.  

BBS Careers is one of a few, if not the only business school career service to offer life-long support.  

We are here to support you! Whether you are applying for postgraduate end-of-study internship, a graduate job, or applying for a management role five years after graduation.  

Visit the BBS website for more details

Future Leaders Certificate

The postgraduate Future Leaders Certificate, run by the Birmingham Business School Careers team, is an extra-curricular programme which is designed to prepare our MSc students for the potential impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This is intended to equip students with the skills they need to stand out and succeed within this increasingly competitive market. As part of this, students will be encouraged to increase their awareness of responsible business and ethical considerations.

Students selected for the Future Leaders Certificate will receive expert coaching, mentoring and industry insight, and work on a group project set by multi-national companies which place high importance on their social and corporate responsibility.